http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com |
U.N. investigators are coiling their ropes and looking wistfully for another
tree. The inquiry into the Jenin "massacre" has been called off. U.N.
spokesmen say this is because of Israeli objections to the composition of
the commission that would have conducted the inquiry, and of its scope. But
the real reason is there is no "evidence" to sustain a conviction in even a
kangaroo court.

"Palestinian Authority allegations that a large-scale massacre of civilians
was committed by Israeli troops...appear to be crumbling under the weight of
eyewitness accounts from Palestinian fighters who participated in the battle
and camp residents who remained in their homes until the final hours of the
fighting," the Boston Globe reported April 29.

A Palestinian Authority official said only 56 bodies have been found in
Jenin, a far cry from the "more than 500" Palestinians have been claiming.
Kadoura Mousa Kadourah acknowledged there had been no massacre, a conclusion
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch had arrived at days before.
There is plenty of evidence of other war crimes. On April 27, three gunmen
disguised as Israeli soldiers entered the settlement of Adora, west of
Hebron, and shot to death 5-year-old Danielle Shefi and three other
civilians. There is no question the gunmen intended to kill Danielle,
because the attack on her was witnessed by her 4-year-old brother, who was
wounded.

Under international law, it is a war crime to deliberately target unarmed
civilians. It is also a violation of the laws of war to attack under false
colors. But the United Nations has as little interest in proof of
Palestinian guilt as it has in proof of Israeli innocence.

The panel assembled by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was stacked with
haters of Israel. One was Cornelio Sommaruga, who likened the Star of David
to the swastika. Israel could have expected from him and his colleagues the
same fair, dispassionate treatment a black man accused of raping a white
woman could expect from a Ku Klux Klan lynch mob.

The bias and incompetence of the United Nations and of the European Union
have caused me to view NATO and NAFTA with new respect.

I considered expansion of NATO an unnecessary affront to Russia, which is no
longer an enemy. And since today's Russia is no more likely to invade
Western Europe than Yasser Arafat is to keep a promise, I wondered if
perhaps the Cold War alliance had outlived its usefulness.

But I've become convinced that an expanded NATO is needed as a counterweight
to the UN and the EU. There must be at least one international organization
that stands for liberty, democracy and human rights.

I've been chary of NAFTA, because I don't share the view of most pundits
that it is good for the U.S. economy to export American jobs. But an
expanded NAFTA may be the best way to keep the EU from becoming an ugly
monster.

The European Union began with two very good ideas: a free trade area within
Europe, and cooperation for the common defense. It went on to a questionable
idea, a single currency. But the ultimate vision of the sclerotic socialists
who run the EU's vast bureaucracy is to create a European super-state that
would oppose American "hyper-power."

Britain and Ireland are geographically close to continental Europe, but are
much closer to us in values. Liberty, democracy and human rights are recent
transplants to the European continent, and have only shallow roots there.
What we call "Western" values are really Anglo-American values.

NAFTA should be rechristened the North ATLANTIC Free Trade Association, and
Britain and Ireland invited to join. Britain and Ireland could join a
larger, faster-growing economic union, and could do so without giving up
their currency, or large chunks of their sovereignty.

Lord Sainsbury, who campaigned hard for British participation in what became
the European Union, complained in a recent speech that EU regulations are
harming the British economy.

The world requires adult leadership, which only the United States can
provide, since the UN is dominated by vicious children, and the EU by
spoiled children. NATO and NAFTA can be the means through which that
leadership is
exercised.

04/29/02:Islamic 'smarts'04/26/02: Did Bush play his Aces with Abdullah wisely?04/23/02: Why peace in the Mideast is closer than ever04/19/02: What the Arabs of Gaza and the West Bank gained from the "peace accords"04/17/02: Logical Muslim allies04/10/02: How to guarantee an infinite Mideast war04/08/02: Saddam's American friends04/05/02: Arab winners and sinners04/01/02: Why is the commander of U.S. Central Command not coming clean to the American people?03/31/02: Dubya under attack … by conservatives03/26/02: Saddam watch coming to an end?03/21/02: Get the Jews!03/19/02: It's time pols and gov bureaucrats be held to the same
standard of accountability we insist for corporate execs03/15/02: Khaki Throat03/12/02: Making foreign cheaters pay03/08/02: Timidity and indecision by senior American commanders03/04/02: Why 9-11? Ex-CIA officials come clean02/25/02: Don't rule out a quick victory --- even if prez says otherwise02/21/02: Saving our military from itself02/19/02: Front Page fiction02/15/02: Our European allies are like the fat kid who wants to play quarterback02/13/02: Is the Army in danger of becoming "irrelevant"?02/11/02: So, I "propagate hatred" …02/06/02: Bush whacking the media02/04/02: Why serious folks disregard the European Union --- and why Bush must, too01/30/02: Give economy pneumonia in order to protect it from a cold01/28/02: Media is its own worst enemy01/25/02: Journalists making road to peace a bumpy ride, or: A case study in stupidity01/23/02: Toward a stronger defense at a lower cost01/21/02: How Bush could be Generations X and Y's Kennedy ... and guarantee a GOP victory in the midterm elections